Apparatus for mixing and blending printing inks



Oct. 30, 1956 1, G. COLEMAN APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND BLENDING PRINTING INKS Filed Jan. 9, 1956 INVENTOR A55 1 G. COLE/VIQ/V United States Patent APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND BLENDING PRINTING INKS Lee G. Coleman, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Arco Plate C0., Brooklyn, N. Y., a partnership Application January 9, 1956, Serial No. 558,055

Claims. (Cl. 259-409) This invention is an apparatus for mixing and blending printing inks in order to obtain the desired colors, shades or tints, and is intended for use primarily in lithographing and printing establishments, in contradistinction to factories devoted to the manufacture of inks.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 519,526, filed July 1, 1955. That application discloses an apparatus for mixing and blending printing inks, comprising an ink mixing pan, preferably of metal, provided at one end with a hearing. A cylindrical rod, forming a rotor, extends through said bearing into the interior of the pan and said rod is provided at its exterior end with means to rotate the rod for the purpose of mixing ink contained in the pan.

In practice, a very small amount of ink, say up to five pounds, may require mixing, while in other cases an excess of five pounds is required and I have therefore found it desirable to provide means whereby the capacity of the ink mixing container may be varied in a simple and eflicient manner, so that the apparatus can function with maximum efficiency on any particular amount of ink which it is desired to mix. This is not feasible with a rigid mixing pan and it is an expense and nuisance to provide different pans for different quantities of ink. Hence the object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the general character referred to in my prior application but one wherein the size of the ink mixing container may be varied as desired.

In accordance with this invention, the depth of the container remains substantially constant, but its length may be varied within relatively wide limits. I am able to accomplish this result by forming a container with separate end plates while the side and bottom wall of the container may be made of some flexible material, preferably paper, parchment or sheet plastic. This flexible material is adapted to be cut to the desired length and secured to the end plates with substantially impervious joints, so as to form with the end plates the container to receive the ink to be mixed. The mixing rod, which I will refer to as a rotor, is made of a length to suit maximum conditions of length of the container and is journalled in bearings provided in both end'plates so as to function efiiciently with a container of any length, from a relatively short container to a relatively large one dependentupon the amount of ink to be mixed.

The mechanism whereby the opposite ends of the flexible-body of thecontainer is bound to the end plates embodies means for clamping the four corner portions of the flexible member to a tension member which is operable to draw the end margins of the sheet tightly about a substantially V-shaped boss on the corresponding end plate, in order to provide the impervious joint to which I have referred. At the conclusion of the mixing operation, the flexible member may be readily released and removed from the end plates.

The invention embodies many novel features and advantages hereinafter described in the following detailed description and set forth in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Fig. 1 is :a side elevation of the apparatus of this invention, showing portions thereof in central section on the line 11 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing one of the end plates and a bed on which said plate is mounted for adjustment longitudinally of the bed.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmental section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

The apparatus of this invention comprises a bed formed by two inverted channel sections 1 arranged parallel with one another and provided with longitudinal slots 2. These channels may be spaced apart in any appropriate way and on one end of the resulting bed is supported a motor 3 so that the channels constitute in part a motor mount. The armature shaft 4 of the motor is adapted to be secured by a demountable coupling '5 of any desired kind to a rod 6 which constitutes the mixing rotor of the apparatus.

Arranged in parallel spaced relation longitudinally of the bed and supported thereon are a pair of end plates 7. These plates are identical with one another, but they are arranged in opposed relation. Each is provided with a foot 8 adapted to be secured to the bed by screws or bolts 9 which pass through the slots 2 of the channels and, when loosened, permit the end plates to be moved toward and away from one another for the purpose of increasing or decreasing the length of the container. Each end plate is provided on its inner side with a substantially V-shaped, or equivalent U-shaped, boss 10 rounded at its bottom on an easy curve and in each boss is positioned a close fitting bushing or bearing 11 for the reception of the rotor 6.

Overlying the upper flat surface of each boss is a tension member 12 provided with :a central perforation 13. An adjusting screw 14 extends downwardly through the perforation 13 and enters a tapped hole 15 in the boss, as best shown in Fig. 1. The screw 14 has a head 16 with a hub on its under side which bears against the upper surface of the tension member 12 and beneath the tension member the screw is provided with a fixed collar or washer 17 held in place by a split ring 18 or cotter pin, so as to lock the screw against axial movement relative to the tension member 12. By rotating the screw, the tension member may be raised and lowered as desired.

Overlying each end of the tension member 12 is a clamp comprising a'plate 19 provided with a perforation below which the tension member has a tapped hole to receive a clampingscrew 20, as shown best in Fig. 4. The inner end of each clamping plate 19 is slotted at 21 and a pin :22 extending upwardly from the tension member enters this slot to keep the clamping plate from turning. a

Users of this apparatus are-generally supplied with paper either flat or in a roll. This paper is fairly heavy kraft paper of a predetermined width appropriate for use in the machine. When an operator 'desires to prepare the machine for use, he cuts off a'length 'of this paper appropriate to the "amount of ink he intends to mix. This he determines either by experience or by data supplied by the manufacturer of the machine.' Having'cut' the paper to the proper length, he loosens the screws 9 of one end plate and adjusts said end plate, so that the spacing between said end plates is equal to or slightly greater than the length of the paper which has been cut. The screws are then tightened and the paper, indicated at P in the drawings, is wrapped around the bosses 10 of the oppositely disposed end plates and its four corner portions introduced between the clamping plates 19 and the tension member 12, as shown in Fig. 3, it being understood that during this operation, the tension plates are in lowered positions. The screws 20 are then tightened to tightly clamp and grip the paper P at the opposite ends of the sheet at its four corners. The tension screws 16 are then rotated to elevate both tension members 12 in order to draw the end margins of the sheet into tight close fitting conformity with the lateral bottom edges of the respective bosses to form therewith seals. In practice the seal thus produced need not be absolutely leak-proof for very low viscosity liquid, because printing inks generally are of fairly high viscosity and will not therefore tend to leak if the joints between the sheet and the boss are fairly tight.

When the sheet has been applied in the manner stated,

it provides a closed ended trough into which the ink may be introduced for mixing purposes, after which the motor is operated to carry out the mixing function.

After the mix is complete, the ink is removed in any appropriate manner. It may be dumped out of the side of the trough by tilting the trough or it may be ladled out as desired. If a very high viscosity ink has been mixed, it will tend to ball midway of the length of the container, so that it may be removed with the sheet. The removal of this sheet is accomplished by first screwing down the tension screws 16 to relieve the tension of the sheet about the bosses, then unscrewing the clamping screws 20 to release the sheet, then lifting out the sheet. If the sheet is of paper, this may be done by slightly deforming the sheet while the end plates remain in place. If a somewhat stiifer material, such as a plastic, is used, the screws 9 at one of the end plates may be loosened to permit said end plate to be backed off so that the sheet can be readily removed.

After the sheet has been removed from the machine and the bulk of the ink removed therefrom, it may be discarded if it is of some cheap material such as paper or the like. If it is of more expensive material, it may be laid out flat and readily cleaned for re-use. The end plates of the apparatus may be readily cleaned as they are separated from one another and there is nothing in the way to preclude effective and easy cleaning thereof.

I have operated with the machine of this invention using a paper sheet in the mixing of up to five pounds of ink and a fraction of a pound can be mixed with equal elfectiveness by the use of-shorter containers, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus a lithographer or printer may readily adjust this apparatus to his particular needs and in a manner to produce the maximum efficiency and he is able to do this in an inexpensive way through the use of a relatively cheap apparatus.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown the preferred form of this invention with clamping screws 19 and tension adjusting screws 16. However, in practice, I may use cams or eccentrics for some or all of these screws without departing from the invention and may otherwise modify details of this apparatus without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention which is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for mixing printing inks comprising: a pair of end plates arranged in parallel spaced apart relation and each embodying a substantially V-shaped member, a tension member on each of said end plates, clamps carried by said tension members, a flexible sheet extending between said end plates and embracing the bottom and lateral edges of the V-shaped members thereof with the corners of said sheet secured to the tension members by said clamps, and means for moving each tension member to draw the opposite end margins of the sheet into tight conformity with said V-shaped members, in combination with a mixing rotor projecting into the space between the end plates.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each tension member overlies the corresponding end plate and has a screw connection with the latter whereby such tension member may be raised and lowered.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the clamps are mounted on the opposite ends of the tension members to clamp the four corners of the sheet to tension members.

4. A mixing trough for ink mixing machines comprising: a pair of end plates arranged in parallel spaced apart relation and each embodying a substantially V-shaped member, a tension member overlying each end plate, clamps on said tension members, means for raising and lowering each tension member, and a sheet of flexible material extending between said end plates and passing beneath the V-shaped members with its four corners detachably secured to the tension members by the clamps on the latter, whereby the raising of the tension members relative to the V-shaped members draws the end margins of the sheet into close tight fitting conformity with the V-shaped members to form therewith substantially leak-proof joints.

5. A mixing trough according to claim 4, wherein the means for raising and lowering each tension member comprises a screw extending through said member and threaded into the corresponding end plate.

6. A mixing trough according to claim 5 comprising: a bed, and means for supporting the end plates on the bed for adjustment toward and away from one another.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 comprising: a bed, and means for supporting the end plates on the bed for adjustment toward and away from one another.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 comprising: a motor also mounted on the bed and having driving connections with the mixing rotor.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the end plates are provided with alined bearings for the rotor.

10. A mixing trough for ink mixing machines comprising: a pair of end plates arranged in parallel spaced apart relation and each embodying a substantially V-shaped member, a tension member overlying each V-shaped member, a sheet of flexible material extending across the space between the end plates and below the V-shaped members and secured to the tension members, and means for raising the tension member relative to the V-shaped members to draw the end margins of the sheet into close tight fitting conformity with said V-shaped members to form therewith substantially leak-proof joints.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 230,028 Libbey et al July 13, 1880 333,890 Robinson Jan. 5, 1886 392,706 Aiken NOV. 13, 1888 809,958 Kennedy Jan. 16, 1906 1,363,138 Markham Dec. 21, 1920 2,400,224 Christensen et a1. May 14, 1946 

